Climbing Roses

The first thing I promised myself when arriving at Mooseys was that I could grow climbing roses. I wanted to copy English gardens with house walls covered in rose blooms, archways dripping with roses, rose walkways, roses on pillars, on fences...

Pink Rambler Climbing Rose

Rosy Spreadsheets

My first lists were hilarious - I neatly copied each rose variety, size, pruning requirements and so on into a spreadsheet. Roses which were suitable for tree-climbing had their own special page. Shade-tolerant climbers got special ticks.

I thought it would be really difficult to train a climbing rose. I worried and worried that I'd chose the wrong type of climber. Now I know better - my climbing roses have done their thing, and I needn't have worried at all! My ramblers have been rampant, my archway roses have survived, and the roses in the trees haven't needed any help at all.

I have made a few mistakes - my Banksia Lutea, grown from a cutting, has recently had to be seriously trimmed out of season (it was completely covering the washing line). My climbing Masquerade gets badly rusted, but it is a personal heritage rose (from my first garden).

'Puzzling' has been the word for the climbing rose on Archway Number 6 in the orchard. It was never recorded properly in my journal, and looked a bit like Abraham Darby when it was small. So that's what I called it back then. But no. I know better now. It's the Kordes bred modern climber Alchymist.

I've just taken to my red climbing rose Parkdirektor Riggers in a frenzy of severe pruning (which I've euphemistically called 'rejuvenation'). He's a manly, robust, healthy grower. His flowers are blood red and semi-double, born in large clusters. But I've always complained rudely about his ramrod stiff, non-compliant canes...

Mermaid is a renowned country rose, thorny and unforgiving. She's not a pretty, pretty rose, and will try to strangle any person foolish enough to weed underneath or prune her. The single palish lemon flowers usually sit beside scruffy old buds - this rose is a bit rough around the edges.

My Uetersen rose has been growing in the house patio garden for four years now. It is positioned sensibly in sun underneath a sturdy pergola post - because Uetersen is a most beautiful, well-known climbing rose.

The rose Bantry Bay has a more subtle pink colour than some of my other pink roses. I grow it over archways and along fences. Bantry Bay is a strong grower with short stubby lateral growth. But do I really like it so much? I'm sometimes not so sure...

One of my best buys in the category of budget rose specials is a healthy climbing red rose called Santana. I've enjoyed it blooming for years in my garden without giving it much thought - or even remembering to say thank you!

I'm sorry, but in my humble lady gardener's opinion, the climbing rose with the most romantic name of all, Wedding Day, doesn't quite cut the mustard. Not that roses are ever expected to cut mustard...

Clair Matin rose - what a delightful, flowery rose you have grown into, now that I've pruned away the greedy, overhanging trees and given you more of the simple things in rose-life - sunshine and water!

Dublin Bay is a tall red shrub rose, usually grown as a small climber. It's a natural choice for a country garden, spreading itself easily on a fence or filling a space in a border. But... Sorry, but I like my red roses to be fragrant!

The climbing rose Compassion grows up two of the pergola posts by the house patio. It's a sweet smelling rose with big blooms of salmon-pink shaded with apricot. My rose book claims that each flower has thirty-six petals - I haven't counted.

Phyllis Bide is a restrained (almost shy) small climbing rose with fluffy pinkish flowers. After rain they get beautifully speckled with darker pink spots. They remind me of flowers made of crepe paper.

The lovely multi-coloured climber Masquerade is one of the early summer rose delights in the Moosey garden. But I should mention the rust that this rose seems to get - my Masquerade roses need to be sprayed.

This pink rambling rose completely covers the roof of the woodshed. The canes drip down all sides, and are covered in early summer with a mass of crinkly pink flowers. And lots of thorns, ready to nip at anyone passing on a ride-on lawn mower and not paying attention... Ouch!